Wednesday, January 20, 2010

I'm taking the Pro Baking 1 series at the New School of Cooking in Culver City (Los Angeles) this fall/winter. For Class 5, it was all about the Chocolate! As you can imagine, no one was absent from class! :)

We learned about cacao seeds, nibs, and the history of chocolate. We had a chocolate tasting with a bunch of Tasting Chocolates (these are expensive and NOT for baking). My favorites were the single origin chocolates of Michel Cluizel. These chocolates are made from a single plantation, not a combination of many growers.

Hint: The Trader Joe's Pound Plus blocks of chocolate are repackaged high end chocolate from Belgium. Get it. It's yum and way way cheaper. (By the way, you can usually find this chocolate above the freezer and near the little boxes of mini peanut butter cups and chocolate covered sunflower seeds, it is not in the baking section)

We made brown sugar chocolate cupcakes (made with Dutch-processed cocoa) and had a selection of frostings and toppings. So-called "Buttercream" (next week we'll make an Italian Meringue Buttercream - the real buttercream): Vanilla and Chocolate, and a chocolate gananche. We used jumbo cupcake holders to hold a nice topping of ganache.

Chef Carol, our instructor, also demonstrated making a Chocolate Decadence Cake or Flourless Chocolate Cake with a mound of chocolate ganache. The white lines are a combo of powdered sugar and heavy cream. You need heavy cream so you made the texture of the ganache...if you used milk, it would harden.

The next day, I practiced by making the cupcakes again and frosted them with some cream cheese frosting (just for you @justjennrecipes!) The little balls? Those are delicious Valrhona Crunchy 55% Chocolate Pearls (available at Surfas)

Thanks for the tip about Trader Joe's chocolate. I'm always on the hunt for good chocolate at a bargain price. I'm so jealous of both your baking class and your proximity to Surfas. The cupcakes are adorable and I bet they're sinfully delicious.

Arrgghhh! Another reason I need to live closer to you. Thanks for the tip about TJ's chocolate blocks. Looks like I'm making another trip to Traders soon. Can I con you to get me some of those chocolate pearls next time you go to Surfas?? ;)

that is outgrageously good-looking chocolatey deliciousness!! i looove cluizel chocolate! we used at a restaurant i used to work for, and i could never resist having a handful of buttons everytime i opened a new box!